Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Now that we’re three years into the pandemic–and in the last stages of summer when you can feel fall getting ready to come swinging in like Miley Cyrus on her wrecking ball–we’re in a collective contemplative moment. In today’s episode I’ll talk you through how to check in on your yearly goals, as well as a bigger picture check-in on how you’re doing in general at this particular juncture in time. Goals review: What goals have I achieved? What haven’t I completed but have made progress on? What haven’t I done because I’m no longer interested? Is there anything new I want to add,Taking stock in general:What’s going well? What isn’t going as well as I’d like? Where is my energy being drawn? What things am I feeling repelled by? What do I need more of? What could I stand less of? Relevant blog post:27 Ways to Take Stock for Evaluate Your Life DayThis episode sponsored by: Zapier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all need inspiration in this life and one place I get mine is from my podcast crush–Make Your Damn Bed, a short daily podcast from Chicago-based comedian Julie Merica. Today I’m sharing one of my all-time favorite Make Your Damn Bed episodes, about the healing powers of watching Bob Ross (the groovy 70s artist who had a painting show on PBS for decades). Get ready to feel soothed, inspired, and ready to find a way to work with any jacked up stuff that lands smack dab in the middle of your day.If you are digging Julie, go subscribe to Make Your Damn Bed! She’s also a great follow on Instagram. Send me your better person Qs and I’ll answer them on a future episode! kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.comNutrafol.com (use the promo code BETTER) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve got a podcast crush–a show that I love that I think you will too. It’s Make Your Damn Bed, from Chicago-based comedian Julie Merica, who is just a peach of a human–plus, funny!--and who also offers short daily episodes to help you look for the good and bring your best. Today and tomorrow I’m running one of Julie’s episodes in my feed. Today’s is all about creating that wonderful feeling of having your shit together by using a technique from the cooking world–”mise en place,” which is a French phrase that means “putting in place” or “gather.” Down South, where I went to high school, you might call it “fixin’ to get ready,” and it can give you a stable platform for the rest of your day–heck, even your life. Julie explains.If you are digging Julie, go subscribe to Make Your Damn Bed! She’s also a great follow on Instagram. Send me your better person Qs and I’ll answer them on a future episode! kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.comNutrafol.com (use the promo code BETTER) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having a sense of community and a feeling of belonging to where you live is so important–both to a life well lived and your overall wellbeing. Yet, at this stage in the pandemic, so many people are at least considering how and even where they want to live after the pandemic. Today I’m talking with Melody Warnick, a journalist who has written two great books on the importance of place–This Is Where You Belong and her brand new book If You Could Live Anywhere. Melody can help you figure out where you’re going to feel at home, and then how to up your sense of belonging once you’re there (even if you’ve lived there a long time). Melody Warnick’s websiteMelody’s booksSend me your better person Qs and I’ll answer them on a future episode! kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode is sponsored by:Zapier.comNutrafol.com (use the promo code BETTER) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s something you might be doing every night without even thinking about it that could be negatively impacting your neighbors, your community, and the environment. It’s flicking a switch and turning an outside light on. Which doesn’t seem like that big a deal, right? But it can have a lot of repercussions that you’ll learn about today. A link to the New York Times article on light trespassing Send me your better person Qs and I’ll answer them on a future episode! kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.comNutrafol.com (use the promo code BETTER) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling connected to other people feels nice, but can it actually improve your health? Yes it can, and there’s one particular hormone that makes that statement true, and that’s oxytocin, aka the love hormone, which I’m sharing some cool factoids about today, as well as how you can raise it and get the health benefits it brings while ALSO feeling a stronger connection to others. Study showing oxytocin’s links to aging Study that showed that watching an emotional video increased generosity to strangersSend me your better person Qs and I’ll answer them on a future episode! kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.comNutrafol.com (use the promo code BETTER) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s just say that when you’re just out and about, running errands and minding your business, an angry driver honks at you, yells at you, and flips you off. And, your kid is in the car with you. What do you do? Well, I’ll share what NOT to do in today’s episode, based on a true story! Yep, I’m coming clean on my road rage issues today and sharing a cautionary tale. Send me your better person Qs! Email: kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This summer I’ve been re-watching the show “Better Things,” with Pamela Adlon, on Hulu, and I I love it for its lessons in reality, and unreality, and how messy motherhood and modern life and also, how despite it all, there are so many moments of truth and beauty. It’s like one of my favorite Dolly Parton sayings, “It’s all wrong but it’s all right.” Pamela Adlon on Fresh AirSend me your better person Qs! Email: kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summer + reading = two of my most favorite words. Today I’m sharing the 2 memoirs I read in various summery locations that I just capital-L Loved:Easy Beauty, Chloe Cooper JonesPunch Me Up to the Gods, Brian Broome“Fearing For His Life” – Chloe Cooper Jones’ Pulitzer-nominated articleLet’s connect on GoodreadsSend me your better person Qs! Email: kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.comThis episode sponsored by:Zapier.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Need ideas for what to read this summer, whether you’re hitting the beach or just chilling in bed? I’ve got 4 suggestions for you–all ones I read while I was on vacation and loved. Today I’m talking about the two novels I read, one’s romance, one’s YA, both are awesome. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, Akweake EmeziThe Falling Girls, Hayley KrischerLet’s connect on GoodreadsSend me your better person Qs! Email: kate@beabetterpersonpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices